Shooting the Past is a fine piece of work. It entertains, it makes you think, it deals with issues and you end up discussing it and thinking about it at length afterwards.
The scenario is somewhat far-fetched - it is inconceivable that most of the staff at the archive would be unaware of the plans to chuck them out of a listed building - the place would have been swarming with bureaucrats for months before the bulldozers arrived, if indeed anything that requires bulldozers would have been permitted. Further, it also seems inconceivable that a man with a passion for his new business school and with mission-critical deadlines would visit the place for the first time without having verified that the archivists were moving out.
But we forgive Poliakoff his fanciful scenario because it sets up a terrific and taught drama.
Lindsay Duncan is simply superb, as is Timothy Spall as the "borderline autistic, photo-savant" Oswald.
Some of the cinematography (if you call it that in made for TV films) is superb - in particular the long shots of Liam Cunningham walking through the archive and the film shots of still photos.
This is fine stuff and highly recommended.
The scenario is somewhat far-fetched - it is inconceivable that most of the staff at the archive would be unaware of the plans to chuck them out of a listed building - the place would have been swarming with bureaucrats for months before the bulldozers arrived, if indeed anything that requires bulldozers would have been permitted. Further, it also seems inconceivable that a man with a passion for his new business school and with mission-critical deadlines would visit the place for the first time without having verified that the archivists were moving out.
But we forgive Poliakoff his fanciful scenario because it sets up a terrific and taught drama.
Lindsay Duncan is simply superb, as is Timothy Spall as the "borderline autistic, photo-savant" Oswald.
Some of the cinematography (if you call it that in made for TV films) is superb - in particular the long shots of Liam Cunningham walking through the archive and the film shots of still photos.
This is fine stuff and highly recommended.